University students’ study motivation in a particular moment is shaped by contextual factors such as upcoming exams and conflicts between different action tendencies. We investigated how these two contextual factors are related. Based on the theoretical assumption that students’ in-the-moment study motivation increases relative to their motivation for other activities as exams approach, we investigated how students’ study activities and their experience of motivational action conflicts develop when exams come closer in time. Using the experience sampling method, we tracked the in-situ activities and conflict experience of 134 first-semester university students over one week and a total of 4995 measurement points just before exams. Multilevel logistic regression revealed that the probability to study increased by 13.9% and the probability to experience a motivational conflict decreased by 17.5% each day the exam came closer in time. Multilevel regression showed that motivational conflicts were more intense the closer the exam was in time. Students were generally less likely to experience conflicts while studying and experienced more intense conflicts when the conflicting activity was study related. We discuss that both multiple goals and the temporal distance of relevant events should be considered as relevant contexts shaping the situated motivation of university students.

大学生在特定时刻的学习动机受到情境因素的影响，例如即将到来的考试和不同行动倾向之间的冲突。我们调查了这两个背景因素是如何相关的。基于这样一个理论假设，即随着考试的临近，学生的即时学习动机相对于其他活动的动机会增加，我们调查了随着考试时间的临近，学生的学习活动和他们的动机行为冲突经验是如何发展的。使用经验抽样方法，我们跟踪了原位134 名第一学期大学生一周内的活动和冲突体验，共计 4995 个考试前测点。多级逻辑回归显示，随着考试时间的临近，每天学习的可能性增加 13.9%，经历动机冲突的可能性降低 17.5%。多级回归表明，离考试时间越近，动机冲突就越强烈。学生在学习期间一般不太可能遇到冲突，而当冲突活动与学习相关时，他们会经历更激烈的冲突。我们讨论了多重目标和相关事件的时间距离都应该被视为塑造大学生情境动机的相关背景。